COURSE of the MONTH

non-Fibonacci number in Java

My homework assignment is to add a nest loop to print the first twenty five (25) non – Fibonacci numbers. I don't want anyone to do my homework, but I stuck on how to get the non-Fibonacci numbers? My "for loop" is not working? Suggestions are welcome. I'm a beginner at Java and EE so please let me know if my question is okay. How many points should I give for a question like this?

Walter, my guess is that class is just starting. What week are you in? (This gives me an idea of how much you could have learned.) I don't know how many points you should give but I think you'd have been better off posting this to "New to Java." because you are. Still, for the type of help I'll offer, I think 500 points is good because someone like me will want you to learn (and thus I'll try to teach). Teaching ain't easy.

Since I don't know your level, I'll tell you how I'd approach the problem. I might end up using terms you don't know yet.

I would create a class that would create a class for Fibonacci numbers. It would have two fields, currentNumber and previousNumber. The constructor (at least the one without arguments) would set currentNumber to 0 and previousNumber to 1.

I'd add accessors for both fields - getCurrentNumber() and getPreviousNumber(). Another method would be both a mutator and an accessor would be something like findNextNumber(). It would copy the previous to a temporary variable, copy previous to current and then add the new previous to the temporary variable to get the new current. I'd have it return the new current.

Now you have a Fibonacci number generator. I'd test that first.

My idea is you find the non Fibonacci numbers by knowing that they are the ones that aren't Fibonacci numbers. There are multiple ways you can do this. I'd modify the Fibonacci class and I can help you with that *after* you create the class to generate Fibonacci numbers.

I think the logic would be most starightforward if after you define in the beginning

int previousFib = 0;
int nextFib = 1;
int countNonfib = 0;

you make
outer loop as if infinite using while(true)
(no reason, by the way, to be afraid of while(true) method,
if you provide clear condition for breaking out, like you would do below)

So you do:

while(true) {
//here insiode you make a "for" loop
//starting with previousFib+1 and less than nextFib - more or less like you have in you code
// and inside this loop you print running index of the loop - your nonFib numbers - and also each time increment countNonFib++
// and immediately after incrementing check - if countNonfib equals 25 you immediately exit the program with System.exit(0)

//after you close the for loop (if you didn't jump out of it, because of the System.exit(0))
//you store the value of nextFib in temporary variable, say int temp=nextFib;
// then assign new nextFib as the sum of nextFib and previousFib
// and then assign the vlaue of old nextFib (stored in temp) to new previousFib

//and here your while(true) loop ends - so you go through the next step - again printing nonFib numbers between the next pair of Fibs
}

Thank you for your help. With your help I figured out my homework. I still have 6 weeks of class left so I will be asking more questions. I tried to increase the point, but I could get around the "You may not award more than 125 points." error. Again, thank you.

In closing, I still suggest you try to think more in an OOP orientation than a procedural programming orientation. My guess is you are left hemisphere dominant in your brain. Most programmers are (such as myself). I did a research paper on this for a college class a while back and the only negative comment was that it was a bit too brief. Still got the A. (I might know what I'm talking about.)

Some of the papers I read discussed the danger of left hemisphere dominant people, under the pressure to finish a project (at work), would revert to procedural methods instead of OOP methods. While this would get the project done, sometimes they were "busted" by supervisors.